Curiosity is the Courage Pathway that recalibrates. When a Seeker has gone off-course, frozen by fear, stuck in an old story, or certain that the obstacle ahead is impassable, the Curiosity Pathway opens up a new way forward. It does not eliminate the fear. It redirects attention from the threat to the terrain, from what might go wrong to what might be discovered. Applying the Courage Pathway, Courage Keepers remember the power of asking the next question rather than supplying the next answer.

A vivid illustration comes from the television show Ted Lasso. Lasso is an optimistic American football coach hired, improbably, to manage a professional English soccer team. In one memorable scene, he finds himself in a pub playing darts against Rupert, the club’s former owner: vindictive, arrogant, and supremely confident in the wager he has made with Lasso. Rupert makes his disdain clear to everyone watching.

As the match unfolds, Lasso reflects on a familiar experience: being underestimated by people who never bothered to be curious about him. Rupert’s assumptions were so fixed that it never occurred to him to simply ask if Lasso had ever played darts before. If he had, he would have learned that Lasso spent years playing darts with his father growing up.

Lasso wins. As he does, he offers the line the scene has been building toward: “Be curious, not judgmental.” Judgment closes off possibilities; curiosity requires a pause and enough comfort with uncertainty to ask questions before deciding the answers are already known.

This is what Curiosity does for Seekers caught in a fear loop: it presses pause on the automatic response. Keepers who model this, visibly pausing, asking rather than assuming, and staying genuinely open, show Seekers what that looks like in practice.

This is an excerpt from John’s book Courage Keepers – A Guide to Brave Leadership and Inspiring Bold Action in Others coming out in September 2026!